Laskhkargah’s Boost hospital services improved: MSF

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): The Boost Hospital in the capital of southern Helmand province has improved its services, attracting residents of neighboring provinces to bring their patients there, thanks to the Doctors Without Borders organization.

Boost Hospital’s MSF head Claudio Miglietta on Sunday during an exclusive interview told Pajhwok Afghan News the services at the hospital had improved compared to the past.

“MSF has been supporting the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and the Boost Hospital in Lashkargah for eight years now. We have been here since 2009 and besides providing daily health services, we also assist the hospital in capacity building of doctors which has yielded good results.”

According to him, about 713 individuals, including 13 foreigners and 283 women, work at the hospital. Earlier the hospital had 150 beds, but now their number has reached 327.

In 2016 as many as 2,750 patients were admitted to the hospital on a monthly basis while the number of patients admitted in 2009 barely reached 120 per month.

Miglietta said about 240 patients visited the hospital’s emergency ward on a daily basis. He said they carried out 3,049 surgeries last year with 93 percent of them being complicated ones.

“The insecurity is directly affecting our work because it prevents us from what we aim and want to provide the people.”

He said the Boost Hospital services had recently been standardized and that was besides Helmand people, residents from neighboring provinces also visited the hospital for treatment.

He said the Doctors without Border spent €8 million annually in the hospital to ensure standard services were provided to patients at the facility. “We bring medicines to the hospital from Europe.”

Miglietta called on the parties to the conflict to respect health centres and its employees in compliance with international laws and allow them to properly treat patients.

Kamaluddin, who had brought his father to the hospital for treatment, said: “I brought my father from Musa Qala district to the hospital three days back. He is treated in good manner; everything is satisfactory such as medicines, doctors and beds for patients. I am very happy with it.”

Meanwhile, Yar Mohammad, another individual, said: “My daughter is admitted in the emergency room and doctors have initiated her treatment.” He also confirmed doctors’ proper behavior with patients.